same two men set up to benefit from the controversial keystone pipeline and they're the same two men who have used their cronyism to influence supreme court justices ultimately securing the ruling that made it possible for their company to an insane amount of money into politics and now these two men could be buying up the news that we depend on for the facts and polluting it with their ideology let's hope that doesn't happen but for now let's break the set. in february a band of prisoners at guantanamo bay began a hunger strike according to u.s. officials eighty four prisoners are on hunger strike currently sixteen of them are being force fed while five already been hospitalized in a recent new york times column one guantanamo detainee who's been there for eleven years without trial gave a harrowing personal account of his experience and says quote i will never forget

the first time they passed the feeding tube out my nose i can't describe how painful it is to be force fed this way i wanted to vomit but i couldn't i had never experienced such pain before i would not wish this cruel punishment on anyone for many of the detainees who are starving themselves are of the eighty six prisoners who've already been cleared for release but they haven't been permitted to leave so to break down what hope these prisoners do have of walking free again i'm joined now by colonel morris davis former chief prosecutor one tunnel prison thank you so much for coming on oh my pleasure so you were the chief prosecutor for the military tribunals act one tunnel and you resigned in two thousand and seven why well at that point guantanamo has been open for about five years we get to conduct would we've done one trial which is david hicks would have been fixed you know by dick cheney and john howard in australia and i was being pressured by people above me that said president bush said we don't torture so who are you to so. that we do and

all the evidence we obtained by torture you need to be using it to trial and to me that's just fundamentally un-american and i quit while speaking of torture let's talk about the hunger strike i mean the u.n. has labeled force feeding of prisoners a method of torture. how is it that the u.s. can have total disregard for international law in this regard yet we're really good at preaching to others about their behavior but not very good at practicing ourselves so you know we condemn other countries for doing things that that we do so we just ignore the u.n. you know there was a report recently on drone strikes there was one about the waterboarding and torture in the past and now this one about guantanamo and we just tend to ignore it but the u.s. is kind of in a damned if you do damned if you don't position if they let the detainees starve themselves to death then they'll be oh my god the detainees are dying if they force feed them then they're condemned for abusing them physically so it's a no win situation because we've created this legal black hole where we let people sit for over a decade and just abandon them. you've said quote president obama doesn't have the

balls to close the gap now to make it very clear for our viewers who are saying that obama can't do this is hands are tied could obama singlehandedly close down this facility if he wanted to he's the commander in chief and he was very impassioned last week about the gun bill it be nice to see a little that passion for guantanamo because i was one of the promises he made in two thousand and eight in the first thing he did after the lilly ledbetter act in two thousand and nine when he took office who signed the order to close guantanamo at the time the democrats controlled the house and the senate now certainly the right wingers the wing nuts have made it hard for him to close guantanamo now but he had kind of that sweet heart period where had he really been committed he could have done it and he let the opportunity pass will certainly it was one of his main the main pillar of his talking points when he was in the two thousand election i mean we wanted to see that close you know to play politics in a time like that when you're putting so many human lives at risk of. not having

a fair trial is really frankly unacceptable to me what forces are keeping the camp open right now other than i guess the most extreme right wingers who are calling to keep it open let's primarily it i mean what's in it for the u.s. we commit about sixteen hundred troops to guard one hundred sixty six people at a time when we're trying to draw down forces and do more with less you so recently general kelly the commander of south com told congress needs an extra quarter of a billion dollars to rehab guantanamo to keep it open on top of one hundred twenty million dollars a year we spend just on operating costs so we're spending about twenty eight times more per person to keep them in guantanamo and we do in federal prison we've shot her credibility in the foot around the world you know china just came out the human rights report that condemns the u.s. for guantanamo russia putin just recently barred some officials from traveling to travel to russia that included a couple of commanders from guantanamo so we lecture other countries about their human rights record and they can consistently say what about guantanamo so that

there's nothing in it i mean legally we've been trying for almost eleven years now to get these people into court more people have died at guantanamo than have been convicted. the ones that have been convicted the d.c. circuit court of appeals a federal court here in washington has overturned the conviction saying they're not legitimate law for offenses so and so see what the upside is to keeping guantanamo open other than some talking points for the right wingers who want to look like they're tough on terrorism and i had to mention the dry boarding those those quote suicides that are really. to be actual murders in that sense but let's talk about these talking points that we do here to justify keeping the prison open i mean over half of these prisoners are already cleared for release. but we hear that other countries won't take them there's no way to try them i mean there's some of this rhetoric what's the real truth here well essentially the bulk of the ones that have been cleared i mean these are people that the cia department of justice f.b.i. department of defense. said we've reviewed their cases they're not

a threat to the us and we don't want to keep them but they sitting one time oh because of their citizenship and most are from yemen and our argument is we don't trust the unity government to be responsible for but that's the same government we said the unity government gives us permission to conduct drone strikes and kill people so on one hand we trust the human a government to let us kill people but we don't trust the human a government to take their own citizens back so basically the administration seems to have no real interest in shutting this down as you just said that we've authorized millions of dollars to expand it and keep it in place what are we supposed to do to help these prisoners who are killing themselves right now to get their message across it's unfortunate that it takes those kind of drastic steps to get people to pay attention when you spend a decade of your life in confinement because your citizenship i've got a petition coming out on change dot org i'm working with them in with the witness against torture to put up a petition to encourage president obama to remember what he promised five years ago and to keep his word and to close guantanamo unless in this black hole that we've

had for over a decade and because this has been so politically bad for bush and then obama even though people seem to have forgotten that he said that he was in a closet it seems like the u.s. is now opting to just kill suspected militants abroad instead of capturing that i mean is this just the new policy because of how bad this detention facility has kind of been a scar on the administration well it's been a hopefully that's not the policy i mean if the u.s. has gotten to the point where killing people is easier than confining as i said commentary but lately the last couple of cases like the boston bombers going to be held in federal confinement prosecuted in federal court. bin laden's son in law is being held in federal prison prosecuted in federal court who. we had to promise you know the u.k. our closest ally in order for them to extradite him to the u.s. for trial we had to promise two things we wouldn't take him to guantanamo and prosecute him in a militia. commission so it's kind of

a statement about what our allies think about guantanamo certainly not a popular facility and definitely to see a close thank you so much for coming out being vocal against it colonel morris davis appreciate your time. last week was a whirlwind of breaking news in the boston bombings the dramatic apprehension of the alleged suspect but then a disturbing development emerged the suspect nineteen year old joe hart. would not be read his miranda rights as part of the fifth amendment public safety exception the problem with this is that the exception doesn't actually legally fit the suspect and for those of you who have no idea what miranda rights are the rights read to every person who is arrested in the u.s. media aftermath of the suspects detention certain elected officials quickly took to the internet to offer their two cents on how to treat the suspects south carolina

senator lindsey graham said quote the last thing we may want to do is read boston suspect miranda rights time to quote remain silent and then a follow up by saying if captured i hope administration will least consider holding the boston suspect as enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes some state representatives took the sentiment even further calling actually torture the suspect new york state senator gregg paul wrote sos come bag number two in custody who wouldn't want to use torture on this punk to save more lives. i wouldn't and no one else that actually respects the rule of law and the constitution because guess what torture is illegal and it's never brought proper intel now it may not seem like that big of a deal to read a terrorist suspect his rights but ponder what glenn greenwald has said he said quote when you cheer for the erosion of your heart and rights you're cheering for

the erosion of your own which is what we're already seen a mindset that has already allowed these rights to be taken for granted and compromised two years ago obama bypass congress to roll back miranda rights for quote terrorism suspects exploiting the already narrow public exception to the law and not instant obama basically eliminated the fifth amendment guarantee that you won't incriminate yourself during interrogation without knowing your rights and the fact that all of this is going on with virtually no public outcry signifies just how complacent we've become whether it be toward the patriot act or the n.d.a. of two thousand and twelve or just look at obama's drone wars where no due process is given to all of these suspected militants being killed and you think about it that way it becomes more apparent that if you're determined guilty in the court of public opinion then you'll never be presumed innocent in

a court of law. now if you like you say so far stay tuned to hear the latest breakdown from this week's media madness following the boston bombings with former f.b.i. translators developments coming up next. let me let me i want i wouldn't let me ask you a point. here i know spent working its way around in the bank we have our knives out. but if you feel the slightest bad thing mary gearin display will be i'd like to talk about the surveillance.

me it is easy to. believe. it's. the sun. up the back.

gate. never seen anything like. oh. guys it's been a crazy week with lots of misinformation misreporting and misunderstandings over the complexities of the boston bombing case and every time a new fact emerges it leaves me with more questions than answers so help me gain some insight earlier i was joined by sabella edmonds editor of boiling frogs post and founder of national security whistleblowers coalition i first asked her if

after a decade of civil liberties a rosen's we should be surprised at all to the call to suspend the suspects rights and here's what she had to say. not. being climbing up the ladders towards the police state in fact he had been. operating within the all the police's. characteristics you look at it from the illegal eavesdropping to the illegal detentions to go on time oh who patriot act to now says i mean it's just been going on more and it's been going on we're relentlessly let's talk about these suspects and how the f.b.i. alleges they found them which was through crowd source photos and then a video captured from a department store what does it say about the surveillance state in general that's not make it as a safer and it can't prevent things like this from happening. right but more than dad first of all it shows the you know effectiveness but by saying dad i don't want

to balad they all this contradicting. all the information that's been pouring from the government and the u.s. mainstream media so i have been trying to keep that to sacrament because that's exactly what the government wants and that is americans do concentrate on that. factor and the terror instead i have been looking through my website and two of the articles that announces he has been putting out there on the validity of information period and that is why we have been hearing what we have been reading what we have been watching all the mainstream media and a lot of that was i alternative media in terms of the facts surrounding the this latest incident in boston well let's talk about what the facts are that they do alone that they had the f.b.i. alleges that they have a video showing the suspects dropping their backpack and slowly walking away yet

we've been shielded from seeing the video that supposedly the unequivocal link proving their guilt i mean why do you think this is. well as i am a size before i keep emphasizing three words and that is conflict in contradicting and also false information because if you start putting all the information that is . or end right now you will see that for example. later f.b.i. came out and they said that. this information from the foreign government now be now that our nation was russia in mid to late two thousand and eleven then we look have the information coming out from people who knew the suspects and they are talking about three to five years period so that doesn't add up in terms of f.b.i. claiming that these people were placed on their radar once they got that intelligence tip from the russian government so that is false and if it is false

why is it false you're also i have been reading carefully and i know she has some problem with language but the suspects mother is talking about this ongoing relationship for three to five years and she's describing some of the conversations for example. one hand the government people or others that they are you know that they are decent their people and then turn around and saying what we are watching you and you can eventually has a lot of that sounds just like classy intelligence community in recruitment approach because you would see is the same thing with that confession you know how to suspects that they separate them and they go to one and they want one to basically testify against another they say well you know what you committed to be no you didn't mean bad and on the other hand you can be facing thirty years

in jail this is how they get people suspects to talk and this is their size by the police department as well so that itself is very very interesting and the other thing that nobody's talking about is whether the previous relationship between the so-called suspects and the government u.s. government what is really the f.b.i. because from what i'm gathering from the people i speak with and these are retired veteran f.b.i. analyst agents it is not within their m.o. and each sounds more like. the agency question actually was the cia the cia has been carrying out operations in that region in russia caucuses also central asia but this area and chechnya and i want to get into that specifically which is what you just wrote about on boiling frogs. in post but i wanted to also talk about

the reaction and of course what you're saying you know it is a lot of questions remain about this case and i just hate to see so many people bloodless trying to demand that these people's rights are taken away i mean what happened innocent till proven guilty i mean let's see the proof we're the ones who sponsored the spectacle the media spectacle in the military spectacle that we have the right to see the evidence that they alone. they have but let's talk about the military shut down of boston i mean in the hunt for these two suspects they shut down the city told people not to leave their homes employed thousands of police as well as paramilitary troops with armored tanks in the streets and on top of that israeli police were shipped in to even help investigations the bell was all of this merited to find one man. as the old no you won't be yours you yourself we know that it didn't these actually provided the opportunity or sell an opportunity for the government to test in washington law laws. and

scenarios which they have to be a game beyond the words and this is what we have been doing as a government since nine eleven this is what exactly have been doing be had been put in place everything to get to that state and unfortunately the reaction because the majority boss the people mentally complying people by fear factor say yes come a search for our house without any warrants or lockdown our city or shut down our stores it gets really scary you see well i guess the government has already proved that the americans and the country is ready for the next stage and for me that is this aspect of the you know this simple left liberties that the freedom that be used to have and this those of the state of those freedoms today and where to next next is because i believe it has already approached. the reaction of this

so complacent with this military style crackdown and shutdown of the city i mean really shows the establishment so excited about justifying their militarization of local police forces over the last decade perpetuating these wars for profit saying look terrorism is a real threat and this is like you said i mean it's almost like practice for what's going to happen when a bigger real of or i'm not saying that this isn't real but what is going to happen when something bigger happens on our soil and that's really something that we should be questioning but let's let's move on to your article that you wrote the interesting twist of course is that these two brothers are chargin kind of doesn't fit into that whole narrative that we've been hearing but as you just outlined u.s. operations have been grooming terrorists for a while in that region i mean outline what the u.s. has been doing to foster this kind of extremism in chechnya and why. i can tell you from firsthand experience that information because

a lot of people or those people who know me most the most of those people know that i have been gagged and stay secrets privilege has been invoked in my case multiple times the biggest reason or as they say because probable it had to do with the operations and investigations and documents that i became aware of that covered the time period nine hundred ninety six till two thousand and two this is about every two thousand and two that the out with u.s. operations in that region central asia and caucuses both u.s. yeah but also with nato and through proxy nations and one of them are partner nato partner turkey and this has been in effect says the fall of the soviet union but of be american government through our military cia

operations military operations be have been creating army training directing various factions within the region central asia and caucuses and that includes the the area and darkest time a lot of weapons that gets to be shipped to turkey is shipped there with the intention they call it false and user start to get the recipient may appear as charity but actually the weapons are smuggled and taken to the rebels in chechnya other islamic factions within the central asian crew because this ban can stand and they can be have been doing this since mid one nine hundred ninety s. i know that the russian government is fully aware of this in fact if you look at the news from russia have even turkey even some of the european countries but you never get to see those here within the u.s. mainstream media charter. about when the russian operations to capture or kill some

of these radicals or their rabble zur whatever you want to call them until recently our nation called them the freedom fighters as the one john dean's in afghanistan but that chance and those rebels they recover far passports and some of those people are part of the military in turkey so this information has been out what it has been consistent blackout of this information in the united states with the u.s. mainstream media idol recently and they are still there is that chechen a lobby group is called the american chechens american friends that was established by if you look at the names of the people who are all in this lobby and operate this lobby you're looking at james woolsey former cia director you're looking at people like bruce jackson former military intelligence officer and their later their presidents are u.s. committee on nato you're looking at frank gaffney you're looking at richard perle

the infamous richard perle people like michael ledeen you look at this not even a nation ok this is part of russia this is russian territory and being established as this large flashy lobby group for chechnya i mean people should stop and say why the former director of the cia and lot of the what is this that chechnya while this is a game haro what you have been doing our government has been the lanka has intentions of doing even more in that region and now lo and behold with the mainstream media out of a blue star the american public gets a year and the war is chechnya and the caucuses and now the hot terror sounds being there it is just an amazing tool to witness that i'm for all then we have known about this or nearly twenty years seems like that's the trend of l. and you know one. terrorist is another government's freedom fighters when they know

how to use them to their political advantage thank you so much for coming on breaking down some of the rhetoric and just some of the background of this really complex issue well admin's thanks so much. well that's it for today's show guys but before i go i want to give a special shout out to mother earth because today is international earth day the forty third year the international community has taken a single day to acknowledge the importance of environmental conservation look guys all the problems among us humans in the world distracts us from the entity that we're all connected to the planet environment should not be politicized it's up to all of us to speak up on behalf of the land because it can't speak for itself and without what nature provides and we have nothing don't go outside. the world around us let nature remind you why the earth is so important to protect and with that said i did not.

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international airport in the very heart of moscow.

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lavelle rising china and a pivoting america according to a recent white paper china's military establishment is carefully watching and becoming very concerned over washington strategic planning in the pacific ocean he merican say their pivot is a natural reallocation of resources the chinese see it as a regional policy of containment. across the chinese defense concerns i'm joined by neil gupta in washington he is a professor of strategy and globalization at the university of maryland and c. ard also in washington we have matthew skew venza he is an associate editor of the china channel at the atlantic and in boston we cross to john walsh he is a contributor to counterpunch and antiwar dot com as well as a founding member of come home america gentlemen cross-talk rosen a fight that means you can jump in.